


Performance Review

by dragons_and_angels



Series: Fantastic Beasts Kink Meme [7]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Gellert Grindelwald, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 02:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10653378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragons_and_angels/pseuds/dragons_and_angels
Summary: Graves may be on the run from MACUSA but there was no excuse for his Aurors to be slacking off.





	Performance Review

**Author's Note:**

> Deanon from the kink meme. Prompt: So there was no Grindelwald, instead the MACUSA figured out that Credence is the Obscurus and arrest him. They view him as too dangerous and order his execution. Graves, who maybe brought Credence into the MACUSA himself thinking it would help, feels really guilty and recruits Newt, who had been wandering around New York causing trouble, to help break Credence out. Of course afterwards Graves and Credence have to go on the run.  
> Bonuses:  
> \- Credence is amazed someone would throw away their life and career for him  
> \- it goes as far as Credence being brought to the execution room, but auror can't remove any happy memories to entice Credence into the pool  
> \- Graves and Credence have to stay on the move so the MACUSA doesn't catch up to them - maybe they travel with Newt or stay in contact with him and Credence sends him these letter "dear mr scamander, we have found this nundu with thorn in his paw, how we will help him, please, mr scamander. love, credence  
> \- Graves can't stop being an auror on the run and keeps beating up bad guys and that's how MACUSA track them. "Damn, someone broke the elf trafficking ring in Arizona and left them all tied down in the lobby of local auror office, it has director... I mean to say Graves' fingerprints all over ir. I suppose we MUST really go after him this time.  
> \- Graves can't himself and sends performance review of the aurors chasing him and credence
> 
> Mini-fill because I was so inspired by the bonuses!

Matilda Swansea was sorting through her inbox and trying desperately not to yawn as she did so. She turned away to put the paper in the filing cabinet behind her and when she turned back, there was a envelope made of crisp parchment sitting on her desk. That definitely had not been there before.

She opened it, checking for any jinxes or curses, Graves would be proud if he wasn't a fugitive from justice, and started to read it. It only took two sentences for her to hurry out of her office, into the office pool where the Junior Aurors had their desks. "I've got a letter from Graves," she said loudly. Gaicz's head, propped on his hand in a bid to not fall asleep, fell off and jerked upwards to stare at her in surprise. Ling and Cho stopped trying to see how many paper mice they could get in Smith's hairdo and Goldstein perked up, looking like Christmas had come early. It was a slow day but there was only half the Aurors around at the moment due to holidays and sick days and employees taking three hour lunch breaks because there was nothing else to do.

"What does it say?" Ling asked. He had always hero-worshipped Percival Graves and if meeting the man himself hadn't crushed that adoration, then Graves going on the run from the law wasn't going to do it. He almost had stars in his eyes.

"It's a performance evaluation," Matilda said as she read it. Then she winced. "It's not a very good one."

"I can't believe the man is hiding an Obscurial, going around and foiling poachers and traffickers, corresponding with Ilvermorny and Hogwarts teachers about the best way to teach Barebone magic and he still finds time to criticise our performance," Cho said, disbelieving of Graves' abilities. Cho had never worked closely with the man but Matilda remembered how Graves had managed the entire Auror Department, been Picquery's link to the rest of MACUSA, been a guest lecturer at several Illvermorny classes and in his spare time had a long conversation with Theseus Scamander about researching the magical properties of hippogriffs.

"He's superhuman," Ling said. His tone was a touch too admiring for a fugitive, though Matilda agreed, and she shot him a disapproving look. He dropped his gaze.

"Does he sound alright?" Goldstein asked. Matilda handed her the letter. It would have to be examined magically to see if there was any trace but for now they could have a read of it. It would have been what Graves would have wanted.

Gaicz craned his head over Goldstein's shoulder and his face scrunched up. "Gaicz needs to use more initiative, does not offer his own suggestions enough. For example, when he and Cho were searching the house in France, he was too willing to agree to Cho's suggestion to split up, despite instincts telling him not to," he read out before a spooked look came onto his face.

"We were alone in that house," Cho said slowly. "How does he know?"

"The same abilities that led me turning around and seeing a letter on my desk that wasn't there before," Matilda said wryly. "What else does it say?" She knew what Graves had written about her, she had picked her name out first after all ( _Swansea is a competent Auror and a good leader but needs to have confidence in her own decisions and be willing to stand by them_ ), but the others were looking interested in something other than their own boredom.

"If Auror Cho doesn't learn to pull your left elbow in when he uses curses, he will always miss the target," Gaicz read out slowly. Cho turned an unflattering shade of red and Smith looked delighted at the strike of the ego of her workplace rival. "Smith's ability to take beings she thinks are inferior seriously is going to be her undoing. She needs to listen to house elves, to not ignore goblins and if she ever disrespects a Veela like that again, I will let the Veela set Smith on fire next time."

"What Veela?" Smith gaped at the letter while Cho howled in laughter. Ling came to look over Goldstein's shoulder as well, only to gain a pleased blush.

Gaicz continued to read. "Ling is a promising young Auror and he listens to those with more experience as he should. However he needs to learn the difference between experience and ingrained prejudice. Goldstein handled the unicorn blood trafficking case with competence and calm that is needed from an Auror."

"He's two continents away and she's still teacher's pet?" Cho asked horrified. Goldstein shot a mild curse at him, provoking a yelp. Matilda turned a blind eye. If Graves' words were wrong, she would have said something but unfortunately he still managed to strike at the heart of the issues for many of them.

"Do you think Mr Graves will ever come back?" Ling asked the room, looking at the evaluation in Goldstein's hands. "Even if something happens to the Obscurial?"

Matilda saw Goldstein's jaw tighten and knew this time she would have to intervene. Fortunately Gaicz, with a relaxed air that seemed to imply he missed all the undercurrents in the room, did it for her. "He's going around making all the Aurors of the world look like idiots and the Obscurial is almost fiendishly devoted to him from what I hear. They're on a round the world trip with Barebone learning magic on the go and Graves being a one man war against the Dark. Why would he want to come back?"

"He'll come back," Goldstein said quietly. "But the President would have to admit she's wrong to give the order to arrest Credence." Goldstein's insistence on using the first name of the Obscurial was a small rebellion against the higher ups who wanted Barebone executed on sight. Matilda could only admire her loyalty, though she didn't think that much of the cause. Barebone was a danger and had to be contained. Then again, if Director Graves and Auror Goldstein were both in agreement of this issue, Matilda had to admit to herself that they might be in possession of more information than she was.

"Considering how stubborn Picquery is, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon," Matilda said, preparing to head back into her office. The paperwork wouldn't disappear, no matter how much she wanted it to. "Until then, we pick up the wizards and witches Graves gift-wraps for us and give a good effort into catching him and Barebone." Not their best efforts, because she was sure now no one in the Auror department really wanted to arrest Percival Graves. Find him, sure, just to prove they could but not actually stop him from what he was doing. 

She headed back into her office and cast an automatic glance of the map covering one wall of her office. On it, pictures and letters were pinned on various places on the map. Tracking Barebone and Graves' trips across the world was exhausting work but Matilda could deal with it as long as she kept getting confused letters from other countries' Auror department asking them about who Graves was and why did he keep catching criminals and disappearing?

"Be safe, Graves," Matilda said softly. She missed her boss but he had decided this was more important than being Director and she had to respect him for that.


End file.
